The Ministry of Construction has forecasted that cement demand in Vietnam in the remaining months of this year will rise by 10 per cent to more than 15Mt. The total demand this year is estimated at 29Mt. The Vietnam Cement Corporation, which now holds half of the domestic market share, plans to produce and sell 6.5Mt of cement and clinker in the second half of 2005, with around 3Mt of cement in the third quarter.   The corporation will also import 1-1.05Mt of clinker in the remaining months, for cement production by the years-end and early next year. In the third quarter it plans to import 450,000t.
 
In the first six months Vietnam produced 13.74Mt of cement and imported around 1.9Mt of clinker.   The corporation itself produced over 6.5My of cement and over 4.2Mt of clinker, and sold 6.42Mt of cement. Meanwhile, cement joint venture companies in the country marketed nearly 3.78Mt of cement in the period, accounting for 27.6 per cent of the market share.   The total designed capacity of cement plants in Vietnam now stand at 22.5Mta.
 
Vietnam will need $3.38 billion for cement projects between 2006 and 2010, under the adjusted cement development plan to 2010 and vision to 2020 approved recently. The country will give priority to expansion projects and focus new projects on central, southern and northern mountainous areas where clinker production bases are located.
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